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  • Film program empowers Berkeley teens to tell their stories

    Film program empowers Berkeley teens to tell their stories


    Future filmmakers brainstorming ideas at Berkeley High.

    Credit: Courtesy of Allison Gamlen

    In fourth grade, Nico Lee dressed up as Miss Hannigan, the heartless head of the orphanage in the classic Broadway musical “Annie,” for Halloween. He put together such a fabulous costume, bedecked in a dress, lipstick and a messy bun, that his mother worried her son might get teased. But she was also proud that he had no qualms about being playful about gender. 

    Nico Lee, one of the young filmmakers at Berkeley High School.
    Credit: Nico Lee

    Now the thoughtful Berkeley 15-year-old, who grew up with two moms, digs into that formative memory and riffs on what it means to become a man today in his new short film exploring masculine tropes, “Changing Shapes.” 

    “One of the big ideas is finding your own identity in your own time,” Lee said. “It’s important to explore gender boundaries because if you are able to feel comfortable doing things that are outside of your gendered box, that opens up so much more freedom in how you express yourself. All that gender boundaries are is something that restricts people and separates them.”

    Lee is one of seven Berkeley High School students getting their big break as part of the Future Filmmakers program, which mentors teens through the process of creating short documentary films, from the first rough cut to the red carpet premiere. This new, immersive video project culminated in a sold-out film festival at Berkeley’s Rialto Cinemas Elmwood.

    “This kind of experience is rare,” said Allison Gamlen, visual and performing arts coordinator for the San Mateo County Office of Education, who helped produce the festival. “The chance for high school students to truly tell their own stories, work with real professionals, and go through every step of the creative process, from idea to finished product, is amazing for them. This program builds not only technical and career skills, but also confidence, communication, and self-awareness.” 

    From cinematography and sound design to editing, the students are learning the ropes of filmmaking under the tutelage of documentarian Jordan Olshansky. The class includes Lee, Madison Chau, Derrick Coney, Oliver Hufford, Camila Reyes Mendez, Keely Shaller and Madeleine Wilson.

    “I’ve never had an opportunity for kids like this one, where they’ve had long, sustained, in-depth, collaborative relationships with working professionals,” said Phil Halpern, a lead teacher in the communication arts and sciences program, which includes the video program, at Berkeley High. “You could equate it to an internship where you’re the CEO and that’s really cool.” 

    A peek inside the film/video classroom at Berkeley High School.
    credit: Phil Halpern

    Lee, who has always loved theater and film, jumped at the chance to make a movie of his own. It was a considerable time commitment, and he admits he had doubts about whether his story was dramatic enough, but overall he found the experience invaluable. In the end, he learned to trust his gut. 

    “The hardest part of making this film was that I think the whole time there was sort of a big worry that I didn’t have a story to tell,” he admits. “I learned to be comfortable with that and tell the story that I did have, and hopefully that would connect with people.” 

    Confronting those fears is often part and parcel of the creative process. 

    “My favorite part is witnessing students discover the power of their voice and find the courage to tell their stories,” Gamlen said. “That moment they see their story on screen is transformative. They realize that their perspective is not only valid, it’s needed.”

    Olshansky, a father of two teenagers, had always wanted to work with adolescents, but he wasn’t sure how many kids would want to commit to early morning workshops on Mondays before school. He needn’t have worried. Many students were eager to get their foot in the door of the film industry, long a pillar of the state’s creative economy.

    “The vision is not only to help them develop their storytelling skills,” said Olshansky, president of San Francisco’s True Stories production company, “but also to share their films in ways that spark meaningful conversations among other young people — about identity, family, and other issues that matter most to them.”

    One of the themes Lee wanted to explore was the power of influencers, such as Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan, to shape teen boys’ coming of age amid the rise of the manosphere. 

    “There’s a lot of stuff about toxic masculinity right now and about what masculinity means,” Lee said. “And I felt like maybe an interesting way to look at that was through what it’s like being a boy who was raised by women.”

    All seven autobiographical short films hit hard, resonating with an authenticity that’s rare in the social media age. Camila Reyes Mendez crafts a heartrending valentine to her late mother in “Corazon Espinado.” Madison Chau examines feeling caught between two worlds in “Overseas Vietnamese.”

    “The students share a huge range of life experiences,” said Gamlen, “dealing with parent death, deportation, divorce and blended families, leaving the nest to go to college, yet one theme that is emerging has to do with family and its impact on their lives.”

    Young filmmaker Nico Lee shoots his autobiographical film.
    credit: Nico Lee

    Lee’s mother, Becca, also had to venture outside her comfort zone because he interviewed his parents, as well as his grandparents, for the film. 

    “Honestly, I just felt so proud of him for wanting to dive into this topic and tell our family story,” she said. “But the part of it was being on camera, being in the film, that was a big stretch for me.”

    Hands-on learning is the secret sauce for this project, with its unique blend of funding. The school’s video program is funded through Proposition 28 and Career Technical Education (CTE) money, while the Future Filmmakers project is paid for by Olshanky’s company, True Stories.

    “We know that for most students, kinesthetic experiences make learning stick, when students are doing, not just watching or listening,” Gamlen said. “They’re holding the camera, adjusting the mic, recording their own interviews. And when it’s their own story on the line, they’re invested in every detail. That kind of ownership builds real-world readiness and pride in their work.”

    Lee, for one, will never forget working side by side with a professional editor, learning what to cut and what to keep, the magic of how to craft a cinematic moment that sticks with the viewer. 

    “It’s one of the things that I feel most grateful for about this project,” he said. “It was pretty awesome to be able to experience that kind of collaboration. That was the first really gratifying moment for me, to see this thing that’s just been in my head actually be in a movie.”





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  • These districts and charters were fined for violating TK requirements

    These districts and charters were fined for violating TK requirements


    Credit: Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages

    This is the first in a series of stories on how inadequate staffing may be impeding California’s efforts to offer high-quality instruction to all 4-year-olds by 2025.

    Several California school districts and charter schools have been fined for violating state guidelines on average class size and/or staffing ratios in transitional kindergarten, a grade level that has been expanding to include all 4-year-olds by 2025.  

    Through its universal pre-kindergarten initiative, the state intends to offer high-quality instruction to all 4-year-olds through TK, an additional year of public education prior to kindergarten. To do so, California has implemented legislation placing requirements on transitional kindergarten and adding fiscal penalties for noncompliance. State-set TK guidelines require classes to maintain an average student enrollment of 24 kids and to use a 1:12 adult-to-student ratio.

    Here are the highlights from audit reports from the 2022-23 school year, the first school year since the state added the fiscal penalties for TK requirements:

    Ten school districts and 22 charter schools were not compliant with the required average class size of not more than 24 students, resulting in fines ranging from $1,706 to more than $6.9 million.  

    Seven school districts and 16 charter schools will pay between $2,813 and over $1.1 million for failure to meet the 1:12 adult-to-student ratio for TK classes. 

    Three school districts and 12 charter schools were out of compliance in both class size and adult-to-child ratio. 

    District audits review compliance with a sample of schools.

    Based on the audit reports released to EdSource, the nationwide teacher shortage seems to be a leading reason for districts being out of compliance. 

    While most districts blame the national staffing shortage, some districts are critical of the California Department of Education for not clearly outlining TK requirements as well as for fining districts unfairly. 

    “It is not typical,” Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in late January when the district released its audit findings at a board meeting. “It does not make sense.”

    The following districts and charters have been named as noncompliant, and fiscal penalties they face:

    For going over the 24-student average enrollment 

    • Aspire Port City Academy, a charter and part of Aspire Public Schools: $20,146.42
    • A charter school under Big Picture Educational Academy: $2,116
    • Culver City Unified for two of its schools: $125,129
    • Equitas Academy Charter School for its first and third Equitas Academy schools: $38,504.90
    • Inglewood Unified for Bennett-Kew Elementary: $335,056
    • John Adams Academy, the El Dorado Hills campus, which is a charter school: $21,156.60
    • Seven charter schools in KIPP SoCal Public Schools – KIPP Iluminar Academy, KIPP Comienza Community Prep, KIPP Compton, KIPP Corazon Academy, KIPP Empower Academy, KIPP Ignite and KIPP Vida Preparatory Academy: $87,123.26, in all
    • Los Angeles Unified for two district schools: $6,963,151.68
    • Los Angeles Unified charter school, Hesby Oaks Leadership Center: $8,977.26
    • Los Olivos Unified, a one-school district: $4,488.63
    • Lowell Joint School District for Macy Elementary and Meadow Green Elementary: $81,051
    • Monroe Elementary School District, a one-school district: $1,706
    • A charter in Palm Springs Unified, Cielo Vista Charter School: $21,223
    • Four charter schools run by Rocketship Education – Rocketship Delta Prep, Rocketship Alma Academy, Rocketship Mateo Sheedy Elementary and Rocketship Spark Academy: $91,688.13, in all
    • Rowland Unified for Blandford Elementary: $217,351
    • Scholarship Prep Charter School – Oceanside: $22,833.88
    • Voices College-Bound Language Academies, charter school campuses in Morgan Hill, Mt. Pleasant and Stockton: $12,846.44

    For not meeting 1:12 adult-student ratio

    • Aromas-San Juan Unified for two of its schools: $154,715
    • Culver City Unified for two of its schools: $61,886
    • The same seven charters in KIPP SoCal Public Schools: $167,080.05
    • Equitas Academy Charter School, Inc. for its first, third, fifth and sixth schools: $142,327.45
    • A school in Laton Joint Unified, which only has one elementary: $30,943
    • Los Angeles Unified for 20 district schools: $1,175,824
    • Los Angeles Unified charters Canyon Charter Elementary and Knollwood Preparatory Academy: $30,943 and $61,886, respectively. 
    • Los Olivos Unified: $2,813
    • Pomona Unified for Kingsley Elementary, San Jose Elementary, Armstrong Elementary and Philadelphia Elementary: $123,772 with each being penalized $30,943
    • Two of the four charters fined for average enrollment under Rocketship Education, Rocketship Mateo Sheedy Elementary and Rocketship Spark Academy: $12,376.30, with both being penalized $6,188.15
    • Sacramento City Unified for Hubert Bancroft Elementary: $53,261
    • Scholarship Prep Charter School – Oceanside: $12,376.30

    Not all the districts, such as Aromas-San Juan Unified, Culver City Unified and LAUSD, disclosed the names of the penalized schools in the audit reports. They are not required to do so.

    The school districts and charters will lose funding from the Local Control Funding Formula in the amount of their penalties. 

    Unlike the other charter schools penalized, those in LAUSD and Palm Springs are operated by their respective school districts, rather than by charter management organizations. The fines received for the charter schools operated by LAUSD and Palm Springs Unified will be paid at the charter school level, not at the district level, according to the California Department of Education (CDE). 

    Why requirements on TK? 

    The state Education Department has outlined several benefits of implementing smaller TK class sizes and adult-to-student ratios.

    According to the department’s September 2022 TK requirement presentation, more attention and feedback from adults creates more opportunities for student learning and engagement. With a smaller class size, teachers form better relationships with students, and parent participation improves. 

    The lower adult-to-student ratios, the CDE has said, allow staff to provide individualized instruction as well as supervision at all times. Additional adult support, the department says, leads to increased cognitive and social-emotional development, lower rates of students being placed in special education and teachers experiencing less stress. Plus, the 1:12 ratio is closely aligned with 1:8 staffing practices in early education at licensed child care centers, private preschools and state preschool programs and the 1:10 ratio at Head Start. 

    Noncompliance brings fiscal penalties

    State compliance with TK requirements is verified in a district’s annual audit at the end of the school year. The TK class size requirement is based on the average number of students while the 1:12 staffing ratio is based on the number of district staff dedicated and available to all TK students in each class. The numbers are counted on the last teaching day of each school month before April 15. For most school districts, that is August to March. 

    How is the penalty determined? 

    Depending on whether the violation is for average student enrollment or the staffing ratio, penalty calculations consider areas such as base funding, the TK funding rate add-on, average daily attendance and the statewide absence rate. 

    For average student enrollment violations, the penalty equals the grade span base funding for TK/K-3 multiplied by the Second Principal Apportionment (P-2) for TK Average Daily Attendance (ADA). 

    For TK staffing ratio violations, the penalty equals the product of:

    • Additional adults needed 
    • 24 reduced by the prior year elementary statewide absence rate 
    • TK add-on funding rate for the school year, which is available online; $2,813 was the funding rate for 2022-23

    Some district audits miscalculated the class average or staffing ratio penalties, reducing the expected fines by hundreds of thousands of dollars for some. 

    Penalty amounts changed from $369,347 to $125,129 for the class average penalty in Culver City Unified; went from $641,561 to $217,351 for the class average penalty in Rowland Unified; changed from $239,133 to $81,051 for the class average penalty in  Lowell Joint School District; and decreased from $10,483 to $2,813 for the staffing ratio penalty in Los Olivos School District. 

    A school district or charter school must maintain an average TK class enrollment of not more than 24 students for each campus. Because the audit considers the number of students each month, it is possible for a school to have a TK class that exceeds the limit for a time and still maintain an average of 24 or less. 

    For example, Marcella Gutierrez, a Mountain View School District TK teacher, told EdSource that she received her 25th student in February because her class enrollment average was under 24. Based on active enrollment at the end of each month, the number of students in her class was 24 in August and September, 23 in October when a student moved, 23 in November and December and 22 in early January when another student left the program but 24 by the end of the month when two new students joined her class. 

    With her class average at 23.5, not the 24-student classroom average for TK, the district accepted a 25th student for Gutierrez’s class. The district also added a third aide to meet the 1:12 student-staff ratio, she said.

    According to the state Education Department, to be counted in the staffing ratio, the “assigned” adult must be an employee who is dedicated and available to all TK students the entire school day.  

    The audit selects a representative sample of schools to review compliance. If districts or charter schools are found to have violated the TK guidelines, they will face penalties for each sampled school in violation. 

    Schools blame staff shortage, CDE for shortfalls

    School districts nationwide have struggled to hire paraprofessionals, such as aides, who work closely with teachers to support students in the classroom. 

    Legislation requires paraprofessionals to work alongside California teachers to lower class sizes and fulfill the 1:12 adult-to-student ratio requirement in TK classes. 

    According to the audit reports, districts and schools such as Scholarship Prep Charter School in Oceanside, Pomona Unified in eastern Los Angeles County and Culver City Unified, also in Los Angeles County, blame staffing shortages for their inability to comply with state guidelines. 

    But the staffing shortage isn’t limited to paraprofessionals. Based on state and regional hiring and vacancy data, state legislation has identified TK teachers as a high-need teaching position impacted by the teacher shortage. 

    Pomona Unified couldn’t maintain its staffing ratio at four schools that each needed the equivalent of 0.5 additional adults. 

    Culver City Unified was unable to hire enough teachers to stay within the class size enrollment or staffing ratio guidelines, resulting in noncompliance in two classes at two schools. 

    Even when staffing shortages played a role in noncompliance, some districts faulted the state Education Department. 

    The seven charter schools in KIPP SoCal Public Schools in Los Angeles that were penalized for being out of compliance for both class average and ratios said the state guidance about the TK program was not clear when their elementary schools planned their instruction and classroom models for the 2022-23 school year. Planning takes place before the school year starts.  

    Although July 2021 legislation introduced the TK requirements on average class size and staffing ratios, legislation in September 2022 added details to the requirements, at which time KIPP schools had already planned classroom instruction.

    Historically, KIPP schools have created combination classes of TK and kindergarten students, with no more than five TK students in the class of 24, supervised by one teacher and an aide. 

    Because the students are educated in the same space, the TK adult-to-student ratio requirements must apply to all students in the combo class, according to the CDE. The class average has to be at or below 24 and the ratio at 1:12, even though only five TK students are in the class. 

    Similar to KIPP schools, Monroe Elementary School District in Fresno offered a combo class with TK and kindergarten students, resulting in an average enrollment of 29 kids. 

    The district acted under the incorrect assumption that the combo class would be considered two separate classes since the TK and kindergarten students had their own teachers. However, the class was considered one class and out of compliance. 

    KIPP schools have since implemented a monthly process to check student enrollment and ratios and will conduct more frequent audits. 

    Monroe Elementary School District also agreed to monitor enrollment numbers more closely; the school district will be annexed into Caruthers Unified by next school year. 

    One district publicly contests fines

    Los Angeles Unified, California’s largest district, continues to struggle to fill vacant positions and achieve the required adult-to-student ratio. 

    District leaders called the penalties “egregious.” Los Angeles Unified incurred over $8.1 million in fines for being out of compliance with TK ratios and class size limits. 

    In the audit sampling of 88 schools, two exceeded the 24-student class size average and 20 did not maintain the 1:12 staffing ratio. 

    When the district’s audit results were released during a January LAUSD board meeting, district leaders, including Carvalho, said the district will work to ensure compliance but will push against schools incurring fines for lacking one additional adult. 

    The district received 20 fines, totaling $1,175,824, for not complying with the 1:12 ratio in its district schools, a fine they would have avoided if they had 19 additional adults in the TK classrooms.

    “A small variance from the ratio brings about a significant fine,” Carvalho said, calling the penalties unfair and in need of fixing. 

    The district has already put mechanisms in place to track compliance this school year, including a TK toolkit for school and district administration, distributing specific revisions to TK legislation, and holding meetings with principals in the spring to review guidelines.  

    The school district will also host biweekly department meetings to monitor classes and have monthly meetings to identify schools that are not compliant with staffing ratios, according to its audit report.  

    Besides taking corrective action to address compliance with the transitional kindergarten requirement, penalized schools have two other options to respond to audit findings: an appeal or a payment plan. In March, the CDE issued letters to most of the penalized districts and charters asking them to choose what they plan to do.  

    Existing legislation does not allow districts to avoid penalties. 

    Under the appeals process, schools can challenge the finding based on “errors of fact or interpretation of law” including incorrect information in the audit findings or in the way the law is applied or interpreted.  

    They may also appeal on grounds that they were in substantial compliance with the law in which they can argue that, despite minor or unintentional noncompliance, they provided an educational benefit consistent with the purpose of the transitional kindergarten program. 

    According to CDE spokesperson Scott Roark via email, how soon the penalty is deducted from a district’s funding will depend on whether the school district or charter uses one of the options for resolving audit findings.





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  • To teach math effectively, California must focus on deep, conceptual learning

    To teach math effectively, California must focus on deep, conceptual learning


    Third graders discuss possible ways to solve a new math problem.

    Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

    Fierce wars continue to rage around math instruction, but there are many practical changes we should make for mathematics students upon which most of us can probably agree, that could transform their ability to achieve. 

    A promising new initiative for California that we have both been involved with tackles two of the most pressing flaws of traditional math instruction with elegant solutions that should be appealing to many, no matter which camp they occupy in the debates. Ask any teacher of math what they wish they did not have to deal with, and they will tell you the excessive amount of content they need to teach, which leads to the second problem — the shallow coverage of hundreds of methods that students do not learn in meaningful ways.

    U.S. math textbooks are massive and heavy tomes. By contrast, math textbooks in Japan and China are small and slim. The reason for this is that U.S. curriculum repeats content every year. In China and Japan, content is taught less frequently but more deeply and conceptually. As teachers in the U.S. are forced to “cover” an extensive amount of content in every year of school, students only gain a shallow experience of mathematical methods and rules.

    The second problem, linked to the first, is that students are taught hundreds of methods as though they are all equally important, without experiencing the more foundational concepts deeply and conceptually. Some concepts are much more central than others because they link to other areas of content, and they deserve to be learned deeply, over multiple lessons, through applied tasks that relate to students’ lives.  An example of a central concept in grade four is “factors and groups.” Instead of learning about these through short questions and answers, students can learn them through rich tasks in which they are more deeply engaged, as can be seen here.

    Students can learn all foundational concepts, such as fractions or functions, by drawing, building and learning about them through real-world examples. Every important idea in mathematics can be learned visually, physically and conceptually, including algebra and calculus. Instead, most students work through pages of numerical calculations, absent of any connection to the world, and spend hours of algebra class manipulating X’s on a page.

    A solution to both of these problems is to teach the “big ideas in mathematics” for every grade, as set out in the California Mathematics Framework,  such as “being flexible within 10” (kindergarten) or “unit rates in the world” (grade seven), making sure that for each of the eight or so big ideas in every grade, students have a deep and rich experience of their underlying concepts: by drawing them, building them and talking about them. Even if it is only these eight or so ideas that are experienced in this way each year, they will serve as a foundation for everything else students learn as they progress.

    Many California school districts are now waiting for funding to be devoted to the training of teachers to move to the approaches set out in the framework. But in Kern County, leaders have been sharing these ideas for the past three years. Semitropic Elementary school, which serves mainly Latinx, English learners and socioeconomically disadvantaged students, is one example of a school that has moved to the approach of the framework. In the 2018-19 school year, before Covid-19 and the implementation of the new framework, only 5.6% of Semitropic students met or exceeded standards on math Smarter Balanced tests in grades 3-8, with less than 5% in grades four and five, and no students in grades 6 or 8. After the leaders in Kern County supported teachers in learning and implementing the ideas of the framework, through a series of professional development sessions to build capacity, with classroom demonstration lessons to model the new strategies, in action with their students, and coaching to meet teachers where they were, proficiency levels shot up, increasing to 16.3% overall, with the fourth grade showing the most significant increase, to 36.8%. There is more work to be done in this and other districts, but the demonstrable positive changes already unfolding are impressive.

    What changed in the classrooms of the schools in Kern County? The teachers focused on big ideas, such as “being flexible within 10” which starts in kindergarten and extends through the elementary grades. Instead of students learning 10 as a fixed number that they use to calculate, they now spend time learning how 10 is made up, and all the ways they can make 10. A powerful strategy teachers started to use was “number talks,” in which teachers pose a number problem and collect the different ways students approach the problem, representing them visually. They also started using richer, deeper tasks, encouraging students to discuss ideas and learn with visuals and manipulatives. The superintendent and county math coaches were thrilled with the high levels of engagement they saw in the classrooms, as well as the significant changes in state test scores.

    There are several problems with the systems of mathematics education in many states, and proposed solutions often spark disagreement. But perhaps we should all agree on one thing: Students need to learn important mathematical concepts deeply and well. They should not be working through sets of procedural questions that mean nothing to them, but rather should experience rich applied mathematics that inspires them, helps them learn effectively, and shows them that mathematics is important to their lives.

    •••

    Jo Boaler is a Stanford professor and author of “Math-ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity & Meaning in Mathematics.” She was one of the writers of California’s new mathematics framework.

    Cole Sampson is the administrator of professional learning for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the authors. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • As Black college enrollment lags, study suggests strengthening communities

    As Black college enrollment lags, study suggests strengthening communities


    MarQuan Thornton is a senior at Adelanto High in California’s High Desert. He credits the Heritage Program at his school, aimed at Black students, for helping to keep him on track for attending college.

    Emma Gallegos/EdSource

    Across the nation, more Black students are graduating from high school — but fewer are attending college, according to a report released by the Schott Foundation for Public Education. 

    A study released Tuesday by the organization examined 15 districts throughout the country that collectively educate more than 250,000 Black male students, two of which are in California: the Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest school district in the state, where 7% of students are Black, and the Oakland Unified School District, which has an enrollment of about 45,000, 21% of students being Black. 

    With a 71% graduation rate, Black males at Oakland Unified were among the five lowest in the country — hovering above Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Minneapolis. At 75%, Los Angeles Unified’s wasn’t much higher. 

    “It’s clear that there is something that has to happen across California,” said John Jackson, the CEO and president of the Schott Foundation. 

    “If you take L.A. Unified and Oakland Unified as two of the largest districts in the state — and two districts that have the largest Black male population — there is something that has to happen.” 

    Jackson added that any efforts by LAUSD are especially critical and could “potentially catalyze progress across the country.” 

    Graduating from high school

    As of the 2019-20 academic year, roughly 86% of students across the country graduated from high school in four years, according to the report. 

    And between 2012 and 2020, Black students’ graduation rates improved the most of any group — slicing the gap between Black and white students by almost half. Black male students, however, did not perform as well as their female peers. 

    “The fact that between 2012-2020, the graduation rate increased for all students (4%) and more significantly for Black students (14%) supports the need for states and localities to focus on resourcing the strategies and supports that improve the academic outcomes for the lowest performing group as a pathway to elevate the outcomes for all students,” the report noted. 

    Still, at 81%, the rate for all Black students remains below the national average — along with Latino and Native American students. 

    Only three states had graduation rates that were higher than the national average: Alabama (88%), Delaware (87%) and Florida (87%). On the other hand, Wyoming (66%), Minnesota (69%) and Idaho (69%) had the lowest rates. 

    In California, Black students sustained a graduation rate of 76.9%. 

    Graduating from high school, according to the report, is also connected to a lower likelihood of becoming homeless or incarcerated.

    Specifically, the report notes that a young person who has not graduated from high school is 350% more likely to experience homelessness and 63% more likely to face incarceration. 

    High school graduation can also be linked with a longer life expectancy. 

    “To change this trajectory impacting the very lives of Black males, we must broaden our lens beyond the classrooms and hallways because students do not live within school walls,” Andre Perry, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote in the report.

    “They reside with families and are part of neighborhoods where the prevailing conditions directly impact not only their educational outcomes but also their life expectancy.”

    Going to college 

    Nationally, in the past decade, more than 600,000 Black male students who were projected to participate in post-secondary education have been missing, according to the report. 

    Community college enrollment among Black students across the board fell by 26%, and Black student enrollment in historically Black colleges and universities fell by 16%. Meanwhile, in four-year colleges and universities, there was no increase. 

    And among Black men, college enrollment dropped by 39% between 2011 and 2020. 

    The fall in enrollment comes amid an increase in the number of Black people between the ages of 18 to 34 — whose population rose from 9 million in 2000 to almost 11.5 million a decade later. 

    Last year, in the Cal State system, graduation equity gaps also increased between Black, Latino and Indigenous students. But some campuses have made targeted efforts to bridge them. 

    CSU’s Young Males of Color Consortium received $3.2 million dedicated to creating programs that will be available at 16 CSU campuses and nearby community colleges — and has been “laser-focused on collaborating with higher education professionals to improve the retention, success, and college completion of young men of color enrolled at our partner colleges and universities,” according to a statement provided to EdSource.

    “In the future, we hope to work with our K-12 partners to strengthen the college access pipeline for young men of color, including Black men,” the consortium added.

    ‘Loving systems’ 

    The report emphasized the need to cultivate “loving systems” — which it defines as “a system of core supports that you would provide the children you love” — in order to foster equity and improve student outcomes.

    “When we talk about loving systems, we talk about giving young people and, in this particular case, Black males, access to the supports that are indicative of what you know the average parent would give their young person to succeed,” Jackson said. 

    “Access to healthy food is an education issue. Access to affordable housing is an education issue.”

    In LAUSD, the Black poverty rate was 20% in 2022, and the Black unemployment rate remained at 14%. Meanwhile, in Oakland, the poverty rate was similar to LAUSD — and the Black unemployment rate was about 10%. 

    Both regions also deal with high costs of living and are highly segregated. According to the study, LAUSD had a Residential Segregation Dissimilarity Index of 60%, and Oakland’s was 52%. The index measures the distribution of Black and white residents, ranging from complete integration at zero, to complete segregation at 100.  

    “At the end of the day, racism is nothing more than institutionalized lovelessness. And with that frame, our goal here has to be — and as we recommend the North Star for California, for LA for Oakland, and many other cities — creating … the types of loving communities where all students have an opportunity to learn and to thrive,” Jackson said. 

    “When we do that, we will also see the type of progress in a multiracial democracy that we desire.”





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  • U.S. Navy Restores Almost All of the DEI Banned Books

    U.S. Navy Restores Almost All of the DEI Banned Books


    The U.S. Navy and the other branches of the military were told by order of Trump and Hegseth to remove all books on the subjects of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In practice, this meant elimination of books about race, racism, and sexual orientation.

    These were the search terms used to identify offending titles:

    The 20 official search terms included in the May 9 memo included: affirmative action; allyship; anti-racism; critical race theory; discrimination; diversity in the workplace; diversity, equity, and inclusion; gender affirming care; gender dysphoria; gender expression; gender identity; gender nonconformity; gender transition; transgender military personnel; transgender people; transsexualism; transsexuals; and white privilege.

    Using these identifiers, the Navy took 381 books out of circulation and off its shelves.

    However, a second review restored all but about 20 of the titles.

    In a major reversal, almost all the 381 books that the U.S. Naval Academy removed from the school’s libraries have been returned to the bookshelves after a new review using the Pentagon’s standardized search terms for diversity, equity and inclusion titles found about 20 books that need to be removed pending a future review by a Department of Defense panel, according to a defense official.

    The reversal comes after a May 9 Pentagon memo set Wednesday as the date by which the military services were to submit and remove book titles from the libraries of their military educational institutions that touch on diversity, race, and gender issues using the Pentagon’s specific search terms.

    Prior to the Pentagon memo standardizing search terms, the Navy used its own terms that identified 381 titles, including titles like “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi, “Bodies in Doubt” by Elizabeth Reis, and “White Rage” by Carol Anderson.

    Frankly, I have no idea why the list of banned books was pared down from 381 to only 20. The news story doesn’t explain.

    Here is the original list of banned books. Most are about race and racism. The others are about gender and sexuality.

    If the military is strong enough to fight, aren’t they strong enough to read about challenging topics?



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  • CSU reports only indirect investments in Israel; no plans to divest

    CSU reports only indirect investments in Israel; no plans to divest


    Hundreds of San Diego State students protest in support of Palestinians in April.

    Credit: Jazlyn Dieguez / EdSource

    The California State University system disclosed on Tuesday that it does not have direct investments in any companies that might profit from Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and the war in Gaza but has a small amount of indirect holdings through mutual funds.

    The disclosure was made in response to demands by pro-Palestinian student and faculty protests on campuses for CSU to divest from any such companies.

    However, CSU officials again said they will not sell off any of that indirect investment, echoing the position of the University of California. “The CSU does not intend to alter existing investment policies related to Israel,” according to a statement on the CSU website.

    The 23-campus university system had disclosed in April it does not invest in “direct stocks or equities in any companies,” regardless of location. Officials on Tuesday offered additional details about indirect investments in Israel-based firms via holdings in mutual funds that include equities and corporate bonds. Those total $3.2 million, or 0.04%, of all CSU investments, according to a report discussed during Tuesday’s systemwide board of trustees meeting.

    A list of funds CSU invests in was included in a report to the trustees. However, that did not include holdings that individual campuses and related foundations might own separately from the central system. A portal on the university system’s website details revenue and other financial details on each campus.

    A newly published page on CSU’s website says: “Consistent with their legal structures, CSU investments and auxiliary investments are distinct from one another.”

    But given a recent controversy at Sonoma State and the retirement of its president over his promise to discuss possible divestment from firms with ties to Israel, it seems unlikely that any campus would take such an action now.

    Students have also called on the university to divest from all defense and aerospace investments, but officials have refused to do so. CSU has direct ownership of $20.8 million in such bonds and some exposure via mutual funds, totaling $30.6 million of the system’s investments. In total, defense and aerospace investments make up 0.62% of the CSU system’s central investment portfolio.

    CSU Chancellor Mildred García, during her address to the board, made no direct mention of the calls for divestment. But she did urge any protests to be peaceful and to not harm other members of the CSU communities. “The CSU stands unequivocally against acts of hatred, violence, injustice, discrimination, and more specifically antisemitism and Islamophobia,” Garcia said.

    University campuses nationwide have struggled with how to handle protests in recent weeks, actions mainly against Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Israel’s bombardment of the Hamas-controlled Gaza followed the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and resulted in hundreds of hostages being taken. Since then, more than 35,000 people in Gaza have been killed, mostly civilians, and thousands more have been injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

    The new CSU webpage also details the university’s response to common questions regarding investments in both Israel and the defense and aerospace industries. But one trustee questioned the focus on Israel.

    “I’m not comfortable singling out Israel on a website without singling out Sudan and Russia,” said trustee Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, regarding the information on the webpage. “I’m on the side of human rights and following countries that follow international human rights law.”

    Among the individual CSU campuses, Sacramento State has disclosed that it has no direct investments in assets that might violate its policies forbidding “direct investments in corporations and funds that profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing and activities that violate fundamental human rights,” according to a statement on the university’s website. Reporting by The Sacramento Bee found that Sacramento State “has more $150 million in indirect investments that would be subject for review” under its policy.

    Most recently, Sonoma State University President Mike Lee was disciplined for agreeing to some terms proposed by student protesters on his campus. One such term was “to determine a course of action leading to divestment strategies that include seeking ethical alternatives” to companies with ties to Israel.

    The system’s chancellor, García, then said Lee would be placed on administrative leave for “insubordination and the consequences it has brought upon the system” and acting “without the appropriate approvals.”

    Lee has since apologized and announced his retirement. “In my attempt to find agreement with one group of students, I marginalized other members of our student population and community,” he wrote in a memo last week. “I realize the harm that this has caused, and I take full ownership of it. I deeply regret the unintended consequences of my actions.”





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  • TK staffing ratios are often unmet, teachers say; why some districts escape fines

    TK staffing ratios are often unmet, teachers say; why some districts escape fines


    A preschool student shows his classmate a spider he made from pipe cleaners and a paper cup.

    Credit: Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages

    This is the second in a series of stories on how inadequate staffing may be impeding California’s efforts to offer high-quality instruction to all 4-year-olds by 2025.

    Four-year-olds, many of whom have never attended school or day care, are entering California classrooms in droves following the state’s rapid expansion of transitional kindergarten, a grade preceding kindergarten. 

    In this grade known as TK, young students are exposed to academics and become familiar with letters, sounds and numbers. They also acquire social, emotional and intellectual skills through play and exploration. For example, from having to share toys with their peers in a structured environment, they learn to communicate with each other and handle conflict. 

    Once designed to serve only children who missed the kindergarten age cutoff, TK has evolved and is now projected to reach all the state’s 4-year-olds by the 2025-26 school year. TK is the first year of a two-year kindergarten program that uses a curriculum modified for the age and developmental level of the participating children. When fully implemented, California will have the largest universal preschool program in the nation, serving nearly 400,000 children.

    Expanding TK: The age cutoff

    According to the California Department of Education, California children who turned 5 between Sept. 2, 2022 and April 2, 2023 were eligible for TK this school year. For the 2024–25 school year, children who turn 5 between Sept. 2 and June 2 will be eligible. Students who turn 4 by Sept. 1 will be eligible during the 2024-25 school year. 

    Some of the state’s largest school districts, including Los Angeles Unified and Fresno Unified, are  ahead of the state’s timeline in offering that access. 

    Fresno Unified operates 116 transitional kindergarten classes. Los Angeles Unified has not released the number of TK classes it offers, but according to district data, they serve nearly 11,000 students. 

    Though imperative for students, the expansion has created a problem: Some districts are not staffing TK classrooms with enough adults to maintain the required 1:12 staff-student ratio, a problem that educators say puts the 4-year-old pupils at risk, hampers learning and violates state legislation. 

    Twenty schools in LAUSD have been cited by the state for understaffing classes and violating the ratio. 

    Teachers told EdSource that 4-year-olds can’t learn if they aren’t safe and properly supervised by adults, and that not having enough adults in the classroom jeopardizes children’s safety. 

    “If you’re one adult and you’re managing so many children that have never been to school before, there isn’t any teaching going on,” said David Hunter, a teacher in Fresno Unified who has taught TK for the last six years of a 17-year career. “You’re just keeping them safe as best as you can, but you’re not actually able to teach.” 

    School districts jeopardize state funding if they fail to meet the state-set TK requirements of the 1:12 staff-student ratio and the average class size of 24 kids.

    Out of the 1,815 audit reports that the California Department of Education reviewed, just seven school districts and 16 charter schools have been fined and will lose thousands of dollars in funding from their Local Control Funding Formula for failing to meet the staffing ratios during the 2022-23 school year.  Teachers and others in the classroom say that many more districts and charters are not meeting the requirements but are managing to avoid punishment.

    Los Angeles Unified, which is facing multimillion dollar fines, considers being fined because the classes do not have one additional adult unfair, district leaders said at a board meeting earlier this year. Many other penalized districts blamed the national shortage of teachers and paraprofessionals while some districts were critical of the California Department of Education for not clearly outlining the requirements. 

    Some teachers, on the other hand, say that what is unfair is that TK classes are not being staffed as outlined by the legislation and to support the young students. 

    According to the Fresno Teachers Association, more than a dozen TK classes were not meeting staffing ratios during the 2022-23 school year, yet Fresno Unified was not fined. Fresno educators told EdSource that school districts that were not in compliance last year, such as Fresno Unified, escaped detection and fines because fiscal penalties are based on sample auditing that did not check every school.

    “This is a systems issue,” Hunter said, “and I want to see the system be better for everyone.” 

    Why do TK classes need extra staffing?

    The California Department of Education (CDE) has outlined numerous benefits to having a lower adult-to-student ratio in TK classes, including opportunities for individualized instruction, additional adult support and attention as well as supervision at all times. 

    Legislation requires district staff such as paraprofessionals to work alongside teachers to meet the ratio requirement and share responsibilities of serving the students. 

    On any given day, a TK student may need to use the restroom or have a potty accident; another may get sick and others will require different types of attention.

    “How do you manage that when there’s one of you and 21 four-year-olds?” Hunter said. “You need another adult to help deal with those situations.”  

    Hunter said he taught a class of 21 TK students without an aide from August to December 2022 during the 2022-23 school year, the first school year after the state added fiscal penalties related to TK requirements. 

    He said a teacher and an aide can split a large class into small groups to foster individualized learning, improve student assessment and evaluation and, ultimately, educate the young students — things that won’t happen in one large group of up to 24 four-year-olds. 

    Verifying compliance is difficult

    Going Deeper

    Compliance with the TK staffing ratio requirement is based on adult counts taken on the last teaching day of each school month prior to April 15, typically from August to March. In evaluating ratio compliance, auditors must consider an aide’s daily or weekly schedule, class rosters and other documentation for each class, according to the audit guide. 

    State compliance with TK requirements is verified in a district’s annual audit at the end of the school year and is based on a representative sample of a district’s schools. 

    Schools that are out of compliance may go unchecked if the sampled schools in the district are compliant. Because the sampled schools meet compliance, even though other schools do not, some districts and charters avoid penalties. 

    Fresno Unified, Hunter’s district, was not one of the school systems fined. District spokesperson AJ Kato told EdSource that Fresno Unified has not had problems with meeting the requirements that other districts may be experiencing. 

    But that’s not what teachers say. 

    At least 13 classes, according to Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla, only had one adult for more than 12 students. 

    “The district could have done a better job at hiring additional folks … or in an emergency term, having their administrative staff provide additional support, but that seemingly didn’t happen,” Bonilla said.

    A Fresno Unified TK teacher and union leader surveyed his colleagues. 

    “They were out of compliance with the state, and ultimately the problem is that the students aren’t getting the additional support that’s necessary,” Bonilla added. 

    Hunter said this is the second consecutive school year he’s been teaching out of ratio. 

    This school year, Hunter has a part-time aide but is still out of ratio because he is the only adult for 16 students on days the aide isn’t scheduled to work. 

    Having a full-time aide, or the equivalent, he said, should be baseline and is mandated by law. 

    According to the state Education Department, to be counted in the staffing ratio, the “assigned” adult must be a district employee who is dedicated and available to all TK students the entire school day. Student teachers and volunteers do not count toward it, nor do staff such as a special education aide or speech therapist who are assigned to work with specific students. 

    Part-time aides can satisfy the classroom staffing ratio, but only if the working time equals 100% of the time of a full-time aide, according to the CDE. Because Hunter’s class has 16 students, he needs more than one part-time aide working enough hours to equal the hours of a full-time aide. He has only had one part-time aide this school year. 

    Laton Joint Unified was penalized $30,943 for having a 1:16 ratio last school year. The school had a paraprofessional scheduled for one hour, 45 minutes each day, and that person was not available for all students the entire school day, the audit report detailed. 

    There are also instances of aides being pulled for recess or cafeteria duty or other teaching responsibilities, removing that aide from the instructional minutes with students, teachers told EdSource.

    “Rina,” a former TK teacher who asked to be identified only by her nickname, said that when she took a job at Ballington Academy in San Bernardino City Unified in the 2023-24 school year, the school’s one TK classroom had 18 students. Rina and her aide would align with state compliance for the 18 students. About a week before school started, Rina said the school informed her that the aide, though assigned to her TK students, would be pulled to other elementary classrooms whenever a teacher was absent.

    “It was wrong,” she said. She only stayed in the position for about a week after school started. 

    Some schools and districts, such as Scholarship Prep Charter School in Oceanside, Pomona Unified in eastern Los Angeles County and Culver City Unified in Los Angeles County, said in their audit reports that staffing shortages resulted in their inability to comply with state guidelines. 

    But that’s no excuse, teachers say, because it’s up to district administration to recruit, hire and retain paraprofessionals, instead of making it the teacher’s problem, Rina said.

    Some suggest that the problem with hiring and retaining paraprofessionals is the low compensation.

    A preschool teacher’s aide at Ericson Elementary in Fresno Unified is not in the TK classroom but works with students who are the same age as those entering transitional kindergarten. Speaking with EdSource on condition of anonymity, she said aides, whether in the TK or preschool class, are dealing with the same challenge: subpar pay. 

    Throughout the day, especially when working in groups, she helps the preschoolers with writing their names and learning letters and numbers. At other times during the day, such as during reading time, the aide ensures students keep their hands to themselves and listen to the teacher. As an aide, she sees the impact and importance of her role.

    “We’re like their (teacher’s)  spine,” she said about paraprofessionals. “We’re there to support and help. We do so much for these kids.” 

    She is paid $15.90 an hour and has, over the last two years, questioned whether she should remain in the role.  

    “That’s not helping me,” she said. She’s had to take on side jobs in the district, such as at sporting events, or resorted to borrowing money from friends and family. “I have to buy food, pay bills and then, I have four kids.

    “If they’re still going keep that low (salary), people are not going … to apply for a position as an aide.” 

    Can teachers do anything?

    As a teacher who’s been working out of ratio, Hunter wants districts to be held accountable. 

    “There’s a mechanism there, and I’d like to see that enforced,” Hunter said about the fiscal penalties outlined in legislation.

    While the only way to address the compliance is with fines — which Hunter called “reactive” — he said a tool to report violations throughout the year could push districts to comply sooner and stop teachers from working out of compliance. 

    Currently, there is no such system or tool. 

    And if teachers are providing instruction in classrooms that are out of compliance, they would not report the violation to the state, CDE spokesperson Scott Roark said via email. 

    “Complaints against a district, school, principal, teacher or school personnel are not within the jurisdiction of the CDE unless the complaint falls within the scope of the Uniform Complaint Procedures,” Roark said, explaining that the TK requirements are under local control, with each district’s school board having authority over the complaint process.

    The same reasoning applies to a teachers union hoping to report compliance concerns or violations.  

    But the struggles teachers are experiencing shouldn’t detract from the importance of TK. 

    TK expansion is necessary; schools just need support 

    Patricia Lozano, executive director of the advocacy group Early Edge California and a champion for expanding transitional kindergarten, told EdSource last year about the importance of the program, including how it provides children who were infants during the pandemic with social and intellectual engagement as well as age- and developmentally-appropriate structure and routine to help them thrive. 

    Simply put, TK is imperative for students, said many teachers interviewed by EdSource. 

    Hunter, who has a background in early childhood education, said TK is vital for introducing students to what school is, for teaching socialization and exposing them to academics.

    “Any child who’s been through TK is that much more ready to hit the ground running in kindergarten,” he said. “I just want to see the appropriate support that not only the state promised, but I want to see the districts live up to that support so we can show these learners the best we can.” 





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  • Maurice Cunningham: DFER Moves into MAGA Orbit

    Maurice Cunningham: DFER Moves into MAGA Orbit


    Maurice Cunningham, a retired professor of political science at the university of Massachusetts and a specialist on dark money in education, exposes the rightward shift of Democrats for Education Reform, as well as its continuing disintegration. DFER spent years cheerleading for charter schools and test-based teacher evaluation, but its pretense has dissolved. Cunningham said it is now closely aligned with rightwing groups.

    Cunningham writes:

    Democrats for Education Reform, the front operation for billionaire privateering of public education, has gone all-in for right-wing policies. This likely reflects two factors: the collapse of DFER nationally, and an opportunistic pivot to Trump’s MAGA regime.

    DFER was established upon the premise, according to its hedge fund co-founder Whitney Tilson, that it would spend lavishly as part of an “inside job” to turn the Democratic Party away from teachers unions and public education and toward charter schools. Its CEO Jorge Elorza has just announced the organization will race even further to the right: DFER will now “Explore innovative funding models such as education savings accounts (ESAs), vouchers, and tax credit programs.” (emphasis in original). This is the program of billionaires Linda McMahon, Betsy DeVos–and Donald Trump.

    Judging by the number of high-level staff fleeing from DFER, Elorza has been driving the operation into the ground. Jessical Giles, who served for six years as Washington, D.C. executive director recently resigned because DFER’s policies “no longer align with my values and vision.” 

    Other DFER leaders have complained of the group’s gallop toward political extremism. In a complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, former Massachusetts executive director Mary Tamer wrote that Elorza retaliated against her for “inquiring about Mr. Elorza’s decision to join a Koch-funded right-wing coalition that seemed contrary to the organization’s best interests and mission.” The right-wing coalition seems to be the No More Lines Coalition, which includes not only Koch aligned organizations but Betsy DeVos’s American Federation for Childrenand the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Elorza has been a guest speaker at the Charles Koch Institute. Tamer is seeking damages against  DFER, and the allied Education Reform Now and Education Reform Now Advocacy for gender and age discrimination.

    Tamer’s complaint alleges a number of defections by key DFER leaders. Within months of Elorza’s arrival COO Shakira Petit left, and CFO Sheri Adebiyi was fired. Board Chair Marlon Marshall and Charles Ledley, a co-founder, resigned. The complaint further alleges that “Ms. Tamer is one of several women in leadership positions who have been terminated or pushed out by the Defendants.” That list includes Connecticut state director Amy Dowell and Jen Walmer of Colorado, a close adviser on education to Governor Jared Polis and one of DFER’s most effective advocates.

    Despite the name, DFER has raised millions over the years from Republican-backing billionaires. The Walton Family Foundation, the non-profit corporation of the notoriously anti-union family that owns WalMart, has sustained DFER. Rupert Murchoch, who regards K-12 education as a $500 billion market gave DFER at least $1 million, apparently in the hopes the operation would help his ed tech company. 

    Elorza’s announcement of DFER’s shift leans on the “market-based solutions” language of neo-liberal privateering, but the reality is that neo-liberalism is not where the action is in 2025. Families for Excellent Schools, at one time a privateering powerhouse, collapsed in 2018. In 2011 Stand for Children president Jonah Edelman boasted his organization had nine state affiliates and would grow to twenty states by the end of 2015. In 2025 Stand for Children is hanging on in seven states. 

    Since its 2007 founding, DFER has claimedchapters in nineteen different states plus D.C. and a teachers group. By February 2025 only four chapters remained. In January 2023, DFER listed thirteen national staffers. By February 2025, it had only four. As of May 2025, the “States” and “National Staff” links on DFER’s webpage have disappeared. An Elorza biography lives on. 

    The action now is with extremist organizations like the Koch and Leonard Leo aligned Parents Defending Education and Heritage Foundation offspring Moms for Liberty. 

    Self-described “school choice evangelist” Corey DeAngelis accurately sees that DFER has joined with the far right on education privateering.  DeAngelis was the face of Betsy DeVos’s American Federation for Children  until he was fired after revelations he had starred in gay sex porn films. He is now a “senior fellow” at the American Culture Project, which is tied to the Koch network through the Franklin News Foundation. DeAngelis is cheering DFER’s embrace of the Republican education privateering platform. 

    What has DFER really joined here? The end game was spelled out in a 2017 memorandumfrom the secretive Council for National Policy to Trump and DeVos: abandon public education in favor of “free-market private schools, church schools and home schools.” 

    That is your “choice.” 

    DFER has never been a membership organization—there are few real Democrats involved. To be sure, it has gotten donations from charter favoring Democratic billionaires as well as an array of Republican privateers, plus millions of dollars in untraceable dark money. DFER’s organizational drift and rank political opportunism have now cemented its bond with Trump’s MAGA regime.

    Maurice T. Cunningham is a retired professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and the author of Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization(2021).



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  • Teaching performance assessments strengthen instruction and improve student outcomes; let’s not change that  

    Teaching performance assessments strengthen instruction and improve student outcomes; let’s not change that  


    A kindergarten teacher helps a girl and boy with a class activity.

    Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages

    Learning the art and skill of effective instruction starts long before a teacher’s first job in the classroom. Aspiring educators begin honing their craft in preparation programs that tie clinical practice to coursework on best teaching methods, including how to teach students to read.  

    Since 2002, this process has been reinforced in California by an embedded teaching performance assessment (TPA) as a key measure of professional readiness. A TPA directs teacher preparation candidates to provide evidence of their teaching knowledge and skills. This is accomplished through classroom videos, lesson plans, student work, and analysis of teaching and learning for English learners, students with disabilities, and the full range of students they are teaching.  

    The tasks TPAs require are the core work of teaching. Studies over the last two decades show that TPAs are educative for candidates and predictive of future effectiveness. Furthermore, the feedback they provide focuses educator preparation programs on preparing teachers in ways that are formative and learner-centered.  

    Thus, it is deeply concerning to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) and many in the field that this rich measure of teacher preparation would be eliminated with the passage of Senate Bill 1263, which would repeal all requirements relating to teaching performance assessments, including that future teachers demonstrate their readiness to teach reading.   

    The TPA is California’s only remaining required measure of whether a prospective teacher is ready to teach prior to earning a credential. All other exam requirements for a teaching credential have been modified by the Legislature to allow multiple ways for future teachers to demonstrate basic skills and subject matter competence. These legislative actions have been supported in large part by the requirement that student teachers complete a TPA to earn a credential. 

    Elimination of the TPA would leave California with no consistent standard for ensuring that all teachers are ready to teach before entering our classrooms. We would join only a handful of states that have no capstone assessment for entry into teaching. Passage of SB 1263 would also result in the state losing a key indicator of how well educator preparation programs are preparing a diverse and effective teaching force. 

    In 2021, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 488, which revamped how teacher preparation programs will instruct candidates to teach reading. As a result, the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA) is slated to be replaced by a newly designed literacy performance assessment currently being piloted for incorporation into the TPA by July 1, 2025.  

    Participant feedback on the new literacy performance assessment (LPA) piloted this spring is optimistic. One teaching candidate shared that the LPA “was a vital learning experience when it comes to implementing foundational literacy instruction with young learners. I enjoyed that it’s a more hands-on experience for the students to be engaged and promotes full participation of the student and teacher.” A teacher said that the LPA “provided multiple opportunities for my candidate to reflect and observe exceptional moments as well as missed opportunities in the lesson. It encouraged conversations about how to implement direct, explicit instruction.” A university faculty member observed that the LPA pilot “has been a learning experience for the candidates and the program. … It shows what we are doing well and what other areas we need to create or enhance to support our candidates’ knowledge and skills in teaching literacy.” 

    If the TPA and RICA are eliminated, California will no longer have an assessment of new teachers’ capacity to teach reading, and we will have lost a valuable tool that can inform programs about how they can improve. 

    Recent Learning Policy Institute research demonstrates that TPA scores reflect the quality of teacher preparation candidates have received in terms of clinical support and preparation to teach reading and math (for elementary and special education candidates). Most programs support their candidates well. The study found that nearly two-thirds of teacher preparation programs had more than 90% of their candidates pass a TPA and showed no significant differences in passing rates by race and ethnicity. 

    As Aaron Davis, teacher induction director at William S. Hart Union High School District in Santa Clarita noted, “The TPA serves a very necessary purpose in creating a sound foundation for which a new teacher’s practice can grow with the mindset of having a positive impact on every student.”  While the TPA requires time and effort to implement, it ensures that new teachers are prepared to start their career as an educator on day one, he said. 

    While the pandemic made it challenging to administer TPAs, most programs now ensure that more than 90% of candidates pass the TPA. The CTC is working with the small number of programs that struggle to adequately support their candidates.  

    The elimination of TPAs would unravel decades of progress to focus teacher education on clinical practice and ensure programs consistently meet standards for preparing teachers who are ready to teach.  

    Rather than eliminate the last common measure of an aspiring teacher’s preparedness, we recommend the Legislature uphold the future of a well-prepared teacher workforce by supporting the commission’s commitment to continuously review and update the TPA and to work to support program improvement. Doing so will maintain the quality and effectiveness of new teachers as they embark on their journey to provide the most effective and equitable learning experiences for all students. 

    •••

    Marquita Grenot-Scheyer is chair of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and professor emeritus in the College of Education at California State University, Long Beach.

    Mary Vixie Sandy is executive director of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, an agency that awards over 250,000 credential documents per year and accredits more than 250 colleges, universities, and local education agencies offering educator preparation programs.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the authors. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Newsom prioritizes electric school buses over preschool for children with disabilities

    Newsom prioritizes electric school buses over preschool for children with disabilities


    Marysville Joint Unified School District runs preschool for children with and without disabilities.

    Courtesy of Marysville Joint Unified School District

    Gov. Gavin Newsom invested millions into expanding preschool for children with disabilities. Now, he’s proposing to scale it back, to invest more in electric school buses.

    The move is causing an uproar among leaders of county offices of education and school districts, and advocates for early education and special education.

    “While I appreciate the governor’s dedication to climate change, as a special education administrator and somebody who’s been in the special education field, I think students with disabilities are more important than electric buses,” said Anthony Rebelo, director of the Trinity County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) and chair of the Coalition for Adequate Funding for Special Education.

    Two programs that aim to expand access to preschool for children with disabilities are proposed to be slashed in Newsom’s May revision of his budget proposal.

    The first is an increase in the number of slots in state-subsidized preschool programs that are set aside for children with disabilities. Beginning in 2022, the state began to require these preschool programs to set aside at least 5% of their space to enroll children with disabilities. The percentage of space set aside was to increase to 7.5% in 2025-26, and to 10% in 2026-27. Facing a massive budget shortfall, Newsom is now proposing to cancel that increase and leave the number of slots for children with disabilities at 5%. This move would save the state $47.9 million in 2025-26 and $97.9 million ongoing, beginning in 2026–27.

    The second program the governor plans to cut is the Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program, a program that was set to fund $250 million in grants to help school districts and county offices of education adapt facilities and playground equipment and train preschool teachers to meet the needs of children with disabilities. The state funded a first round of grants in 2020. School districts and county offices of education had applied in April for a second round of grants. The California Department of Education sent out award letters this week to some applicants specifying how much funding they can expect to receive.

    During a May 16 hearing before the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Education, Alex Shoap, finance budget analyst from the California Department of Finance, made it clear Newsom is proposing “pulling back $250 million in currently unallocated Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program funding to instead support the electric school bus grant investment.”

    H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs for the Department of Finance, said the state Legislature had committed to putting $500 million toward electric school buses in 2024-25 and another $500 million in 2025-26. Newsom now aims to spend $395 million more on the buses in 2024-25, most of which would come from the Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program.

    Palmer said spending more now on electric school buses would reduce the amount the state would have to pay in 2025-26 to $105 million.

    In response to criticism of cuts to preschool for children with disabilities, Palmer pointed to the following comment from Newsom on May 10 when he announced his new budget proposals.

    “You will ask me, I’m sure, in the Q and A, ‘Why this cut?’ I will undoubtedly say, ‘I prefer not to make this cut.’ These are programs, these are propositions that I’ve long advanced, many of them. These are things that I’ve supported. These are things we worked closely with the Legislature to advance. None of this is the kind of work you enjoy doing, but you’ve got to do it,” Newsom said.

    School district and county leaders, as well as other preschool providers across the state expressed dismay that these programs would be cut at a time when preschool programs were just beginning to include more children with disabilities in their classrooms.

    “It really is a breach of promise,” said Dave Gordon, Sacramento County superintendent of schools. “People have been planning for these services to go forward for several years. They’re ready to go. I have several people on my staff who are broken-hearted that this is not going to go forward, because they feel it’s been long delayed.”

    Preschoolers with and without disabilities learn and play together in Marysville Joint Unified School District.
    Courtesy of Marysville Joint Unified School District

    Under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, children as young as 3 years old with disabilities must be provided special education. The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have stated that children with disabilities should have access to preschool and child care programs where they can participate alongside their peers without disabilities. California also made expanding access to inclusive preschool programs a goal in its Master Plan for Early Learning and Care, released in 2020.

    “We’re woefully behind most states,” said Elizabeth Engelken, chair of the association SELPA Administrators of California. “We were relying on this … support to begin to shift the environment in schools to be more developmentally appropriate.”

    Jolie Critchfield, director of child development for Marysville Joint Unified School District in Yuba County, said her district used funding from the Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program to train staff and completely revamp their preschool programs with new materials and playground equipment, like swings built for children with disabilities. The district also moved all “special day classrooms” alongside general preschool classrooms, so that children with disabilities are able to interact with other children on the playground and spend time in class with them as well.

    She said the district planned to use future funding to increase coaching for teachers and to include more children with disabilities in general education preschool classrooms.

    “It literally brings tears to your eyes, seeing the kids in the program with wheelchairs and scooters. Kids that you just would not think could be OK in a general education setting, because it would be too overwhelming, are going in there and doing so well,” Critchfield said. “I can’t believe we ever did it any differently.”

    One mother, Stella Goodnough, said she is grateful her daughter was able to attend preschool in Marysville alongside children with disabilities. 

    “I was always afraid to approach special-needs children because I didn’t know what to say or do. Now I see my daughter make friends, especially a best friend, with a special-needs child,” said Goodnough. “She often talks about him at home, which creates opportunities to talk about how wonderful we all are with our differences.”

    The Kings County Early Learning Center playground includes a swing for children in wheelchairs and other equipment for children with disabilities.
    Courtesy of Kings County Office of Education

    The Kings County Office of Education in the Central San Joaquin Valley used funding from the first round of grants to transform an old school building into an early learning center, with many services available for children with disabilities. The center, in Hanford, currently has one classroom where children with and without disabilities are taught together. The county office applied for another grant this year to open two more inclusion classrooms. 

    “Without this funding, our goals are once again relegated to a far-off future when we can’t ever guarantee when that might happen,” said Todd Barlow, Kings County superintendent of schools.

    Several special education administrators said cutting the program would end up costing the state more in the future, because children who have had early education and services at a young age may not need as much intervention in later years.

    “If we identify a student much earlier, get them in that school routine of what it’s like to have group instruction, they’re going to be much more prepared by the time they’re in kindergarten or TK,” Rebelo said. “This just feels like a huge step backwards.”

    The budget proposal would cut about 200 children with disabilities from attending preschool at Kidango, a nonprofit organization that runs dozens of child care centers in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to the organization’s director, Scott Moore.

    “This budget cut is not only harmful to children, but research shows it will result in higher special education costs in the future,” Moore said. “So it’s bad for kids and bad for the state budget.”

    The state budget is still in negotiations until the Legislature passes a final bill in June.





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